U.S. Supreme Court grants Prosecutor's Office cert petition

The United States Supreme Court has granted the petition for certiorari filed in Michigan v. Bryant. The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office filed for certiorari arguing that questions designed to "enable the police to identify, locate, and apprehend" the perpetrator of a dangerous felony that has only recently been committed are questions dealing with an "ongoing emergency". In Michigan v. Bryant the identification and capture of a dangerous felon was the "ongoing emergency." The case will likely be argued in the late fall or early winter by Timothy Baughman, Chief of Appeals for the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office. In Michigan v. Bryant, officers responding to a radio run that someone had been shot found Anthony Covington lying in a gas station outside his car. When a police officer asked what happened, Covington responded that he had been shot, that somebody named "Rick" had shot him through a door, and provided a description of his attacker. The officer described the victim as nervous and in obvious pain, constantly grabbing his side, and talking in a halting manner. After waiting with the victim for five or ten minutes until the ambulance arrived, the officers moved from that scene with the victim to the scene of the shooting to attempt to locate and apprehend the shooter. The victim died several hours later. Covington's statements were admitted at defendant's trial, and he was convicted of second-degree murder. On June 10, 2009, the Michigan Supreme Court in a 4-3 opinion written by Justice Markman, Justices Corrigan, Young, and Weaver dissenting, held that the statements taken at the scene where the victim was found were "testimonial," and admitted in violation of the Confrontation Clause. The court found that where the "primary purpose" of police questions of a wounded victim is "to enable the police to identify, locate, and apprehend the perpetrator," the questions and answers cannot be viewed as for the purpose of dealing with an ongoing emergency. The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office filed for certiorari with the United States Supreme Court, arguing that questions designed to "enable the police to identify, locate, and apprehend" the perpetrator of a dangerous felony that has only recently been committed are questions dealing with an "ongoing emergency" -- the identification and capture of a dangerous felon. The petition for certiorari filed by the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office was granted on March 1, 2010 on the following question: Should certiorari be granted to settle the conflict of authority as to whether preliminary inquiries of a wounded citizen concerning the perpetrator and circumstances of the shooting are nontestimonial because "made under circumstances objectively indicating that the primary purpose of the interrogation is to enable police assistance to meet an "ongoing emergency," that emergency including not only aid to a wounded victim, but also the prompt identification and apprehension of an apparently violent and dangerous individual? The date for oral argument has not been announced. Published: Mon, Mar 15, 2010

––––––––––––––––––––
 Subscribe to the Legal News!
 https://test.legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available